Nathan’s Christmas Secret
A Hopevale Holiday Bonus Short
One
Kelsey
I stared around the living room loving the decorations so much. To think in a very short time I had gone from having no job to an amazing job with my best friend, her amazing husband who was now my Uncle Seth, and my Daddy Nathan was indescribable.
Manda and I had outdone ourselves this year. Nathan won a gift card for some boring hardware store. I told him over and over again that he should use it toward something for himself, he insisted on giving it to me. At first it made zero sense. Manda and I wielding power tools was a no go. Then I thought maybe he wanted me to spend it on gifts for him and Uncle Seth. In the end, Manda, my genius best friend, found an entire Winter Wonderland housed at the back of the store. We were immersed in Christmas decoration heaven.
Despite my tendency to throw more and more unneeded objects into a cart at any given store, Manda and I managed to wrangle my Christmas spirit enough to spend only a little more than the dollar amount on the gift card.
The two of us spent all of last weekend turning my home into Santa’s workshop. Brightly colored garland. Glittery snowflakeshanging from every surface. My favorite new item was a working toy train that circled the much needed new flocked tree. As I stood there admiring my little slice of holiday magicalness my front door opened. Turning slowly, I heard Sunny bark once excitedly before she met my side. My new puppy, Scooter, yipped and raced out to meet his friend.
I knelt down and warmly greeted Sunny while also petting Scooter. I loved that Nathan felt comfortable enough at my house to use the house key I had made for him.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Hey, button.”
I continued rubbing and loving on Sunny, she was the sweetest doggie ever only next to Scooter. They got along surprisingly well and I couldn’t ask for better pets. After a few minutes the two of them trotted off to my kitchen.
“You’ve outdone yourself, Kels.” Nathan wrapped me in a tight hug, lifting me off my feet.
“It was mostly Manda. And the generosity of your gift card. My house feels so warm and cozy! It’s like what I imagine the inside of a gingerbread house might feel like.” I nuzzled under his chin.
“You’re very welcome. I’m happy it made you smile.” Nathan smiled showcasing a dazzling array of perfect white teeth.
This man could be a model. Why he chose me to be his girlfriend and Little girl eluded me.Stop it, Kels!I had no business letting my insecurities surface. Besides, if I told him any of it he would make me write nice things about myself.
“Can we bake some cookies, Daddy? Not that I’ll eat them.”
“We can, but I thought you were baking with Panda?”
He referred to Manda as Panda. They had their own dynamic and it had been long established since before I came into the picture. Sometimes I felt like a third wheel when the four of us spent time together, though it was all in my head. UncleSeth and Manda were the best friends anyone could ever want. Scooter yapped excitedly, running around in circles, drawing our attention to him. Nathan set me on the couch before squatting down to play with the tiny puppy. It could be argued that his huge monster hands and jungle muscles made Scooter look smaller than usual.
“You haven’t answered me, Kelsey. Is something bothering you?”
“Oh. No, Daddy. You’retechnicallycorrect.”
“Clever way of telling me I’m wrong,” he said, chuckling. “Go on.”
“I made some of the more fun cookies with Manda. The spritz ones? She and I have that weird looking contraption that you put the dough inside and then you pick a stencil…not a stencil but the shape you want? It’s like a game. Anyway, we did those and gingerbread men and women. Hm? We did a few more but I can’t remember them all right now. Anyways, I have pecan pie tarts to make and that requires a lot more concentration. Sometimes the two of us get distracted when we are together.”
“Only sometimes, button?” Nathan straightened and joined me on the couch.
“Yeah, well I guess all the time.” I rested my head on his shoulder and blew out a breath.
“Something else is bothering my girl. Spit it out.”
“Or?”Shit.Why had I asked that question? Nathan would probably not give me a consequence of this or that because I always chose the latter. No, it was something he seldom did. Sighing, I leaned forward resting my elbows on my knees. My afternoon was not going according to plan. Nathan rubbed the back of my head and neck before moving his skilled hands to my shoulders.
“Tell Daddy why you’re not dripping in holiday spirit.”
“Oh, I’m dripping, Sir.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “But it’s not eggnog.”
“Naughty little thing,” he growled.
